I averted my gaze because his stare was so fiery, I couldn’t bear the intensity of it.
Dania leaned closer to me, trying to be heard over the king’s booming voice.“He asks the reader to continue.The reader says you are someone who doesn’t come whenskaelcalls?—”
The man’s sad eyes again flicked to mine, pleading with me.Warning me.Filling me with dread.
“He says that he dares not alter the choices you are to make by speaking of them.”
The man carried a small, orange velvet pouch on his belt.It caught my attention because there was a little hum to it… similar to the vault’s sting but also entirely different.
“Ha!”King Arik said.“You are interested in what people carry with them.Personal totems can be read just like palms.”He spoke to the man who’d looked at my hand, and the man frowned.The man unlaced the pouch and pulled at the little beaded drawstrings to open it.
The hum grew louder, and I leaned forward, called by the whispery sound… it was playful and pleasant.
The man crouched and shook some of the pouch’s contents onto the white fur rug.Polished pebbles rolled out and, for a moment, it looked like they kept rolling for longer than pebbles ought to, right toward my boots.I blinked and rubbed my eyes and looked again.The sound was gone.The shiny pebbles were still.Everything looked exactly as a person would expect it to look.
“Ha!”the king’s boisterous voice echoed through the hall.“I will have him show you them in detail another time, Gentlewoman.They are all unique.But I have a crowd waiting for more than a young woman staring at rocks.”He leaned a little closer to me, lowering his voice.“I have respect for all faiths, but there are many here who do not.People will want to bless you in their own ways to gain my favour.Allow them.Blessings only work if you believe in them, just like readings only work if you believe in them, so you will not be betraying your gods as long as you remain skeptical.”He looked at me then, and for all the sharpness of him and the threats I’d felt he’d given me earlier, I was soothed some.I had been fearing, without knowing it, being asked to do something outside prescription.Fearing my confession upon return—the sting of the punishments that awaited me.
“Come,” he said, holding out his arm for me as Islish men held their arms for Islish women.
I took it and Dania moved to follow us, but he said in Islish, “You may have a seat, my dear.I will have the good mead brought over for you.This will be a long, slow walk with lots of standing.Let only those who need to bear it do so, eh?”
King Arik had spoken the truth perfectly.This was something I would come to know him for.The walk was long and slow and full of stops.A large portion of the hall’s visitors had gestures for me, woven bracelets, humming from so deep within their throats, they sounded like rocks singing rather than people.Burning branches were waved around me so the smoke could settle on my shoulders and the top of my head.I struggled with this part, especially since I had no sense of how careful a sea dog would be with the flame.My hair was still thick with oil, so could catch horrendously fast.
King Arik spoke to the sea dogs often, but a little to me as well.
“I thank her on your behalf.”
“This one is very perceptive; I would like to have him look into your eyes.He will tell me how certain your recovery is.”
“This is a great captain.He will have first pick of the raids this season as long as he doesn’t disappoint me between now and then.”
And then came the part of the evening I had been most dreading, but the one I was most mentally prepared for.The king gave me leave to sit, so I found Dania and stood beside her as there were no open spaces left to sit.She told me of the discussion.
“The Bard King says he is seeking a volunteer.Someone to act Norsern on your behalf while you are a guest in his home.He says he would play the role himself only he is very busy?—”
A sea dog with crossed arms shouted out joyfully.“That man says the king would play the role himself only he’d have too many fights and perhaps lose his title.”
“Fighting means he can’t be king?”I said, confused in multiple directions at once.
“No, the man means more that someone will kill the king, using you as an excuse, and they’ll become the new king.That’s how you become the next king, you see?But it’s not… like the Islish kings of old.King here is a captain of the captains, on land—that’s important—it is illegal for him to be kinganda captain at sea.This is how it works.”
I whispered.“King Arik is a murderer?”
She laughed and patted my shoulder.“You are too precious.”
I noticed Fell once again as he was wrestling with Speartooth.
“Sigyn is shouting for The Bard King’s attention.He says you are magically gifted?”Dania turned to look at me with raised brows.“He says you cast lighting?”
I shook my head.Violently.“I don’t?—”
She laughed, her eyes wide and teasing as the sea dogs murmured amongst themselves and Speartooth continued to shout.“He says whoever watches over you should know.You may strike them down if they displease you.”
“I swear, Dania.I am no conjurer.”My heart sped.My fingers shook.I could only imagine my order’s pronouncements should the same thing have been said of me back home.“I swear.”
“Fell!”King Arik’s voice cut through all the noise, and everything lulled to a quick stop.He continued to shout in the sea dog language.
“He demands they stop fighting and that Fell tell him what Sigyn is talking about.”
